In 2007, former England centre and captain Will Carling published his list of the '50
Greatest Rugby players' in The
Telegraph, and ranked O'Driscoll the tenth greatest player
of all time, stating; "As a balanced centre he has everything -
pace, strength, great attacking skill and is as good in defence as
attack. On the 2001 Lions tour, he showed his outstanding talent as
the stand out back in the series. He has the ability to prise open
defences that other players cannot even contemplate. With his
poise, his change of speed and his closeness to the ground it is
very hard to stop him. Ireland are half the side without him". In
summer 2008 O'Driscoll was named Dubliner of The Year by The
Dubliner magazine.

Early life

O'Driscoll
was born in Clontarf on Dublin's Northside, and was educated at Blackrock
College from which he was capped
three times for Ireland Schools in
1996. In 1998, O'Driscoll played for the Ireland U-19 side,
which also included his senior teammates Donncha O'Callaghan and Paddy Wallace, which won the Under 19 Rugby World
Championship. After leaving school, he attended UCD on a scholarship. At UCD, under the
respected director of John McClean, he first made the under-20
side, before being promoted to the top team near the end of his
first year. After two years, O'Driscoll graduated from UCD with a
diploma in sports management. He made his under-21 debut in
February 1999, and eventually gained four caps.

Leinster

O'Driscoll made his debut for Leinster in 1999. Under head coach
Matt Williams and backs coach Alan Gaffney he became an explosive force in
the Leinster backline. In 2001, Leinster won the inaugural Celtic League beating Munster in Lansdowne Road.In 2003 Leinster were heavy favourites for
that years Heineken Cup after coming
through their group unbeaten and with the final being in Dublin.
Ultimately, however, Leinster would fall short. After defeating
Biarritz in Dublin, Leinster
would crash out to Perpignan in the
semi finals.

Following the semi final defeat, Leinster underwent instability in
the coaching set up. Gaffney left for the head coaching job in
Munster whilst Williams became the Scottish
national coach. In 2004, Leinster failed to make the knock out
stages of the competition with new head coach Gary Ella and
following the season Ella would leave the post. Declan Kidney, former Munster coach came into the job in 2005 which once
again prove to be demorialising for Leinster. A heavy home quarter
final defeat to Leicester Tigers
was followed by the departure of Kidney back to Munster.

Leinster appointed Michael Cheika in
the summer of 2006 and despite rumours of O'Driscoll moving to
France he agreed to another year in Ireland. That year, O'Driscoll
returning from a horrific shoulder injury suffered on the Lions,
would assume the captaincy for the season. Under backs coach
David Knox and the movement of Argentine international Felipe
Contepomi to fly half, the Leinster back line would be one of
the most potent in Europe, complete with many notable international
players. With centre partner Gordon
D'Arcy, wings Denis Hickie and
Shane Horgan along with full back
Girvan Dempsey the backline would put
in stunning performances in the Magners League and in Europe.
Notable wins which O'Driscoll excelled in over Bath Rugby and Toulouse away from home would set up an All
Ireland semi final in Lansdowne Road against Munster. Defeat
against the eventual champions Munster, however, would once again
deny O'Driscoll and his team a final berth. Leinster would also be
denied a Magners League title on the final day with David Humphreys of Ulster slotting an injury time drop goal in Ulster's
final game of the season, denying Leinster a second title.

2007 and 2008 would once again prove difficult in Europe, once
again defeat to the eventual champions in 2007, this time to Wasps
in the quarter finals. In 2008, Leinster would be dumped out in the
group stages. Indifferent Heineken Cup form, however, was not
replicated in the league. In 2007, Leinster would once again come to
the final hurdle of the league only to be denied by the Ospreys and Cardiff. In
2008 though Leinster would cruise to the title ahead of Munster,
marking O'Driscoll's second honour with the province, his first and
only as captain.

The 2008-2009 would mark a shift in focus for O'Driscoll. Despite
retaining the Irish captaincy under new coach Declan Kidney, he
would hand the honour of Leinster captain to Leo Cullen. Leinster began with inconsistent
league form and in Europe. A sublime home demolishing of English
champions London
Wasps in which O'Driscoll scored two tries was followed
by away defeats to both London Wasps and Castres.Leinster
would advance to the quarter finals despite this to face Harlequins in the Twickenham Stoop.Before this though, Leinster would
relinquish their Magners League crown to Munster which was
effectively lost in April 2009 at Thomond Park when he was absent through injury. Against
Harlequins, Leinster would muscle their way to a 6-5 victory. The
victory was notable in that Leinster's other notable European wins
relied on backline flair whilst in this game the defence was key.
O'Driscoll (who the previous summer shed one stone of weight) was
to the fore in defence, which had always been a strong area of his
game, but reached new heights in 2009.

The semi
final would be a "re-match" against rivals Munster in Croke Park, a 82,206 sell out, a world record club
attendance. On the day Leinster almost completely reversed
the scoreline in 2006 of 30-6, defeating them 25-6. O'Driscoll was
awarded the man of the match award (which he later dedicated to the
entire team) after an intercept try completed a convincing win for
Leinster and sending O'Driscoll to his first final.Leinster would
capture European glory against a team
who had previously defeated them in the knockout stages, Leicester Tigers on May 23 2009. The 19-16
Heineken Cup victory included a drop
goal from O'Driscoll who was suffering from a shoulder injury. In
his post match interview, a delighted O'Driscoll paid tribute to
former Leinster team mates who shared his journey, but were not
present in the current squad.

Rugby international

Ireland

In 1999, O'Driscoll was selected for the senior squad and was on
the bench for a match against Italy(this was not a Six
Nations match as Italy did not enter the competition until the
following year), although he did not play. He was selected for
the tour of
Australia during which he won his first Test cap at age 20 on 12 June 1999
in a 46-10 loss to Australia in Brisbane. Since that day, he has established himself
as one of rugby's top outside centres. It is noted that O'Driscoll
played for Ireland before he played for the senior Leinster team.
Early in
his Irish career, in 2000 he memorably scored a Hat-trick of tries in a Six Nations Championship
victory against France in Paris — the last
time Ireland achieved victory in Paris in 1972, O'Driscoll hadn't
even been born.

O'Driscoll became so popular in Ireland that many supporters donned
T-shirts bearing the motto "In BOD We Trust" (a play on "In God We Trust", the phrase that appears on
all United States currency and
coinage). In 2002, O'Driscoll
starred in Irelands 18-9 win over Australia, the first Irish victory over the
Wallabies since 1979. In 2003, following the international
retirement of long-time Ireland captain Keith
Wood, he was awarded the captaincy. In that year O'Driscoll led
Ireland to second place in the Six Nations Championship. This
was followed by Triple
Crowns in 2004, 2006 and 2007, with the 2004 success being
Ireland's first crown since 1985. In 2004 O'Driscoll notably
captained Ireland to a 17-12 victory over South Africa, the first Irish win over the
Springboks since 1965.

O'Driscoll has played in the last three World Cups (13 caps). In 2009, O'Driscoll
was again selected as captain, leading Ireland to win the Triple Crown, Six Nations Championship and
their first Grand Slam in
61 years. He scored a try in every match except one, culminating in
a nail-biting final match, a 17-15 victory in Cardiff in which
O'Driscoll again scored a try and was the RBS man of the match. On
March 27 he was named as player of the
2009 Six Nations
Championship. O'Driscoll won a fans' online poll ahead of
runner-up, Italy back-row Sergio
Parisse, and Ireland lock Paul
O'Connell who came third. In May 2009 he was named the Bord
Gáis Energy IRUPA Players' Player of the Year for the past
season.On
15 November 2009, O'Driscoll scored a last minute try against
Australia to
help Ireland get a 20-20 draw in Croke Park. The day after he was named as one of the
seven nominations for the 2009 International Rugby
Board player of the year.

British and Irish Lions

Brian O'Driscoll appeared in all three British and Irish Lions
Tests on the team's 2001 tour of
Australia where he announced himself as a world star with his
now legendary try in the first test. On 11 April 2005, he was named
captain of the team for their 2005 tour of New Zealand.
Prior to
that tour he had been named captain of the Northern Hemisphere side
for the IRB Rugby Aid Match (a
2004 Indian
Ocean tsunamifundraiser)
held at Twickenham in March 2005, but was forced to withdraw due to a
shoulder injury; however, he did appear at pitchside for the
match.

O'Driscoll's playing contribution to the
2005 Lions ended in the opening minutes of the first Test against
the All Blacks in Christchurch on 25 June 2005, when he was carried off the field
on a stretcher with a shoulder
injury just after the ball had left a ruck he was
defending.Tana Umaga (captain of
the All Blacks) and Keven Mealamu had
together lifted O'Driscoll at the ruck and he was driven head first
toward the ground, a manoeuvre known as a Spear tackle, illegal in all grades of rugby
and considered highly dangerous. He extended one arm to protect his
head, and his shoulder was dislocated on impact.

The independent citing commissioner found that the New Zealand
players had no case to answer. However, following new footage,
International Rugby
Board's communications manager Greg Thomas stated ...that
dangerous tackles like this have no part in the game. The
Lions management were heavily criticised by New Zealanders for
attempting to divert attention from their terrible performance.
Although unable to play, O'Driscoll remained as non-playing captain
on a losing tour and only underwent surgery on his return. He then
released a DVD entitled Brian O'Driscoll's
Lions Diary in which he described his tour experience and his
opinion of the events that transpired.

On 21 April 2009, O'Driscoll was selected as part of the 2009 British
& Irish Lions tour to South Africa. On the 1st June 2009 he
was named as captain of the Lions for the game against the Golden Lions taking place on the 3rd June, in
place of the rested Paul O'Connell. This was the first time he has
captained the Lions since the spear tackle incident in New Zealand
in 2005. He was also named in the outside centre position for the
Lions in their first test of the 2009 tour against South Africa, in
which he made two assists as the Lions lost 26 - 21. He was forced
to withdraw from the tour on 30 June before the third and final
test due to a head injury and subsequent concussion he suffered in
the second test.

Injury comeback

In September 2005, as O'Driscoll was said to be preparing to leave
Irish provincial rugby and agree to a contract to play in France,
the IRFU quickly announced they would do all they could to keep him
in Ireland. O'Driscoll subsequently signed a deal with the IRFU to
keep him at Leinster through the 2007 World Cup. O'Driscoll made
his playing comeback for Leinster in December 2005. In January
2006, he helped Leinster beat Bath to
qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2005-6 Heineken Cup. On the
1st of April 2006, O'Driscoll was instrumental in leading Leinster to victory over Toulouse; reaching the Heineken Cup
semi-final.As of February 3, 2009, O'Driscoll has played 57 times
for Leinster in the Heineken Cup, scoring 120 points, including 24
tries (behind record holder Dafydd James' 29 tries & tying with
Shane Horgan for lead Irishman).On May 23, 2009, O'Driscoll was on
the Leinster team which beat Leicester 19-16 in the Heineken Cup final in Murrayfield to claim the
trophy for the first time.